Telluride Film Festival: Jeff Nichols returns with a standout Jodie Comer for ‘The Bikeriders’

Filmmaker Jeff Nichols seemed positively thrilled while introducing his new film “The Bikeriders” to the Telluride Film Festival patrons on Thursday afternoon, and it is easy to see why. The project, Nichols’ first as a director since 2016’s “Loving,” is about an American biker gang in the 1960s, and the propulsive and entertaining drama owes as much to films like “Goodfellas” and “A Bronx Tale” as it does to the Danny Lyon book of photographs and interviews that inspired Nichols to write the script.

“I’ve always tried to find a universal theme in my films,” Nichols said in a director’s statement. “The idea being that if you have a universal thought at the core of your story, it is possible to make a very personal, regionally specific film that feels totally unique to a specific time and place that still resonates with a broad and diverse audience. ‘The Bikeriders’ is about our search for identity. It is very much about American, masculine identity, but only thinking of it in those terms misses a bigger idea. We are all desperate to find and build an identity for ourselves. I think this is one of the greatest animating forces at work in our society right now. People no longer simply define themselves by their work or where they went to college. We are turning to our sex, race, culture, and history to help us find a deeper, more meaningful identity for ourselves. What I find interesting, and what ‘The Bikeriders’ directly addresses, is that in our search for a unique identity, we very often turn to groups to help us define ourselves. It is human nature to want to belong, but that feeling is compounded when the group we choose to belong to is more unique. The more specific the group, the clearer the identity. In some instances, this can be a wonderful, powerful thing in our lives. In others, it can be terribly destructive. ‘The Bikeriders’ represents both.”

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“The Bikeriders” is structured around a pair of interviews a photographer and journalist (played by “West Side Story” breakout Mike Faist, ostensibly taking the Lyon role) conducts with Kathy (Emmy and Tony winner Jodie Comer), the wife of Vandals member Benny (Oscar nominee Austin Butler). The result is a whirlwind rise and fall story, with Kathy narrating the proceedings – as if “Goodfellas” was told only from the perspective of Karen Hill (Oscar nominee Lorraine Bracco). As such, Comer gets the standout role in a film that’s populated with big actors like Butler, Tom Hardy, and Michael Shannon making bold character choices. Following its premiere screening, Comer was on the receiving end of most of the film’s awards buzz – particularly because of the transformative nature of her work, which requires the English native to speak with a believable Chicago accent. (Whether Comer will be considered a lead or supporting character is within the parameters of debate, but it should be noted that the entire film is built upon her memories of the events and Kathy drives the story forward at every turn.)

In press notes, Nichols called Comer “simply one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with.”

“We had access to recordings of the real Kathy that Danny provided. Jodie devoured these. On set, she left behind some of her notes one day, and I realized she had phonetically broken down every word she spoke in the film. She took words on a page and recordings of the real Kathy’s voice and built a fully realized human being—her posture, her incessant smoking, the looks she gives after a line, all of it was incredible to witness.”

“The Bikeriders” is due out in December via 20th Century Studios. For Nichols, it’s perhaps his most mainstream work to date, even more than the John Carpenter-tinged “Midnight Special.”

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